Cutting attachment for printing presses



July 28, 1925. 1,547,603

E. A. METZ CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed July 8. 1924 3 Slleeils--Sheel'I l I I 1 e *5'* W5 rlnfg T E I I g i I 2Q ,e g Q :aI-: ===`k3 Q Q @y h s, w

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July 2s, 192s'.

med .my 8. 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 genuino@ am: nu.

July za, 192s. 1,547,603

' E. A. METZ CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed July 8, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 a0 30 .e Z8 a 9 v f4 7 ,/3 31 y 413 ,l l' "6 z5 s l l 4f I 'c'l/ ako! nu' Patented July 28, 1925.

UN'I'ED STATES QFF LCE.

nLLwoon A. Merz, or GLENARM. MARYLAND, Assismm 'ro x. Hoeren COMPANY,

Glenarm, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in4 Cutting Attachments for Printing Presses, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to an attachmen forfp'rinting presses of the type adapted to print upon heavy stock, such as box blanks 'of strawboard vand the like, and it com- -prrses means, arranged at the delivery end ofthe press, and timed to the movements of Vthe' press, for cutting off 'the'ends of certain flaps on .the blank as they issue from the press. -The blanks are slotted to form flaps upon a suitable slotting machine before being fed in'to the printing press, and as they issue from the press the printing rollers 'serve as a means. for feeding the blanks to the vrcutting mechanism. This cutting mechanism `comprises rotary cutters arranged upon two parallel "shafts located Vclose to the printing cylinders and geared to the powerA shaft yof the press, 'one of these shafts rbeing vertically movable to carryv the cutters j-t'hereon into and out of engagement with cutters without being cut.

lthe cutters on the opposing shaft, and mechanism for automatically depressing yand raising the movable shaft at the proper times to cause the cutters to cut certain flaps and to allow other flaps to pass between the The movable cutter shaft is actuated positively and kinstantly in both directions by mechanism which includes'a learn carrier driven from the power shaft of the pressv and therefore timed to the .movements ofthe printing cylinders, which constitute the `feeding mechanism for the box blanks.

By means of this attachment, the operation of cutting alternate flaps on the box blanks is performed 'on the printing "the bed A1 ofthe press.

oonroRAT'roN "or MARYLAND.

rca rnINrrNe' ressens. I

1924. seria No. 724,817.

Icertain of -the flaps Vwill v'be cut o whenthe blank `is, operated upon by the cutting vattachment;

Fig. 3 is' atop plan view ofthe delivery' "cutters and operating mechanism;

Fig.- t isa vertical sectionon the line 4 4 I- of Fig. 1 gand,

Fig. 5 is a side elevation` of the attachment, with the gears removed;

Referring Vto the drawing', ai represents the frame of a printing press suitable-for printing upon-heavy stock,"such asstrawboard, liber, wood, etc.,V and l) represents a printingfor kform cylinder arranged ab'ove This cylinder cooperates with van impression cylinder, in-

dicated at c' in dotted lines' in Fig. 1, to

Yfrom the bed by Va tape delivery indicated by the dotted lines 2. The press may have one or more additional form cylinders for printing in different oolors,and is provided with suitablemeans (nots'hown) for feed- 4-ingand moving the 'stock' 'along the jbed.

The drive shaft for thegmechanism shown is* indicated at d. This shaft carries a pinion `3 which meshes with a gear 4 on a shaft "5, which vis journaled in the fra-me of the machine, and agear 6 is secured to the opposite end of this shaft. This 'gear @meshes vwitha gear 7, 'shown in dotted lines, and

they latter y'meshes with a gear 8 which, in turn, vmeshes with a Agear 9, on 'a shaft 10 which supports the form cylinder. The ratio of gearing between the shafts 5 and 10 is'v such that the peripheral speed of the 'form cylinder will b'e the same as that 'of ythe impression cylinder which is 'carried on the shaft '5'.

Thev attachment which I have provided for cuttingl the flaps of box blanks after they have 'been printed upon'is mounted close .to the form and impression rollers so Ithat the latterv feed the blanks directly to the cutting apparatus. This 'cutting apparatus comprises a cutter vshaft 1-1, ]o urnaled'in the sides' of the-frame and having rotary cutter knivesv 12y which are adapted to co-operate with complementary knives-13 on a cutter shaft 111-, which is mounted in the 'en'ds'of a pair of swinging arms 15 and 15,

which arms are pivotally mounted upon brackets 16 and 16, at the opposite sides of the press. The cutters on both 'cutter shafts are driven at the same speed by trains of gearing from the pinions 3 on the drive shaft d. Thus, a gear 17 engages the gear 3 and is, in turn, engaged by a gear 18, which latter meshes with a gear 19 on the cutter 'shaft 11 and with a gear 20, which is mounted upon a shaft 21. The gear 2O meshes with a gear 22 which is mounted upon a fixed stud 23, secured to the bracket 16, this stud also 'serving as a pivot for 'the swinging arm and being in line with the axisof the swinging arm 15a. The gear 22 meshes with a wide gear 24, pivotally mounted on a stud 25, projecting from the central portion of the arm 15, and the gear 24 meshes with a gear 26 on the end of the cutter shaft 14. i

Thus, by the gearing described, when the drive shaft d of the press isrotated, the

` printing and impression cylinders as well as circumferential speed.

Rods 27, secured to the arms 15 and 15a, near their free ends, extend upwardly the cutters will be operated at the same `through guides 28 on brackets 29 and 29,

'fixed to the sides of the machine, and cushioning springs 30 are mounted on the guides and tend to lift the guide rods and the swinging arms upwardly to disengage the ``cutters onythe movable shaft 14 from the Vcutters on the stationary shaft 11. Each swinging arm has its free end connected to the* adjacent bracket by toggle .levers z'f', whichidepend from the bracket to the en d of the arm. VThe pairs of toggle levers are Vflexed and straightened by means of links 31, connected to the-centers ofthe pairs 'and to vertically arrange levers 32, mounted upon a `rock shaft 33. This rock shaft is at'the rear and below the bed of the press and carries both of the levers 82. Upon the rock shaft is mounted a short arm or 'lever 34 which projects substantially at right angles to the levers 32, and this arm or lever 34 is connected by a dependingV link 35 to the end of an operating lever f, which is pivotally mounted upon abracket 36.

VThe longer arm of the lever is-connected to the link 35, and the shorter arm 37 is of triangular shape, V as shown, and carries rollers 38 and 39, theiformer above and the latter below the axis of the lever. A

' `A cam wheel g is horizontally arranged in the plane of the axisof the operating 'lever andis mounted to turninsaid plane 'upon a vcentral shaft 40, which is vertically mounted in a-base L, below the cam wheel.

-This base carries a suitable number of guide wheels 41, some arranged above and some below the wheel, which bear upon the wheel near its periphery Aand steady lthe wheel. The shaft 40 is geared to the shaft 3, which drives the form and impression cylinders, so that the cam wheel will be rotated in time with the rotation of the print-ing members, which, as before stated, serve as a means for feeding the blanks to the cutters. The gearing connecting the cam wheelv with the shaft 3 comprises a spiral pinion 42 on the shaft 3, which engages a spiral gear 43 on a shaft 44, which extends at right angles to the shaft 3 and carries a spiral pinion 45, meshing with a spiral gear 46, mounted upon the shaft 4() which carries the cam wheel. H

The cam wheel has on itsupper side, Vnear its periphery, an undercut groove 47, and on its lower side it has a similar groove 48, (Figs. 1 and 8). Cams49and 49JL are held upon the upperside of the wheel overV the groove 47 by clamping bolts 50, having `wide heads which `fit within the groove.

These Vcams can be adjustedto any desired positions `about Vthe circumference of the wheel. Similar cams 51 and 51a are arranged upon the underside of the cam wheel and are similarly held by clamping-bolts fitting within the groove 48, and these lower cams are also adjustable to any desired positions about the circumference of the cam wheel. The cams uponthe upper side of the cam wheel are adapted to engage the roller 38 to rock the operating lever f in one direction, and the cams 51 and 51a are adapted to engage the roller `39` and rock the operating lever in theopposite direction. Then one of the upper cams rocks theoper- `ating' lever by engagement with the roller 3S, it will be evident that through the system of links and levers connected with the operating arrn,` the toggle levers will be straightened and the shaft 14, carrying the upper cutter wheels, will be pressed downwardly into cooperative engagement with the lower cutter wheels.` When one of the cams on the lower side of the cam wheels rocks the operating lever, the toggle levers will be flexed, as shown in Fig. 5, and the Ashaft carrying the upper cutter wheels will be raised out of engagement with the lower cutters. The arrangement of `levers is such that a` slight movement of the operating lever by a cam will cause a relatively long lever positively in both directions at precise times in the movement of the wheel and of the blank, and by setting the stops in the proper positions, the cuts in the blank may be made to commence and end at any desired points in their lengt-hs. The springs 30 ino CII

titi

are not 'reliedl upon vto raise the arms 115, carrying 'the upper entre-r shari,t Jbut are used as counterbalanc'e springs to takefupA the `shock and: make the 'apparatus work more smoothly. j

A box mank j, indicated in Fig-.1.2, is shown as having slots 52, 53 and Y5ft, eut transversely in its opposite edges. These blanks, Acut to suitable tsif'ze and slotted as shown to form flaps, are fed endwise into the printing press by suitable feeding mechanism, not shown, and as the blanks pass between the form roller and the impression roller, the blanks are printed with any desired printed matter, and these rollers feed the blanks rearwardly between the cutter shafts and on to the tape delivery 2, which carries them away from the. press. It will be obvious that by suitably locating the cam blocks on the cam wheel, the upper cutter shaft may be raised and lowered, as desired, to make spaced cuts in the blanks. Thus, to out olf the flaps 55 on the blank shown in Fig. 2, a cam will be locate-d on the upper side of the cam wheel in such position as to cause the cutters to be in cutting engagement when the blank, moving in the direction of the arrow, reaches the cutters, and a cam will be placed on the lower side of the cam wheel in such position as to rock the operating lever in the direction to flex the tog gle at the moment when the flaps 55 are cut off along the lines 55a. The cutters will re.- main separated while the flaps 56 are passing between them, and a properly positioned cam on the top of the cam wheel will then rock the operating lever to straighten the toggles and depress the upper cutter shaft, and the cutters will then cut off thel ends of the flaps 57, along the lines 57a. A properly positioned cam on the underside of the cam wheel will then rock the ope-rating lever to flex the toggles and lift the cutter shaft while the flaps 58 are passing between the wheels. The, cutter wheels, as usual, in rotary cutting machines, may be adjusted along their shafts to cut the blanks at different distances from their lateral edges, and the longitudinal cuts or incisions may be made to any desired length and at any desired distance apart longitudinally of the blank to out the flaps of box blanks of various sizes and designs.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a printing press for printing on box blanks, including a form cylinder, of cutters at t-he delivery end of the press adapted to cut the blanks, and means, timed to the movement of the cylinder, for intermittently raising and lowering the cutters.

2. The combination with a printing press for printing on box blanks, including a form cylinder, of rotary cutters at the delivery end of the press adapted t0 cut the. blanks,

'and means, timed to the movement of the cylinder, for intermittently raising and loweri'rrg :the cutters.

3. The combination with a printing press forl 'printing on b'ox blanks, -includinga form cylinder, fof parallel lshafts amaaigeel transversely I'of' the bedY alt the rear off the form cylinder and vnavi-ng 1(3o-acting cutters c'ut'tilrrg the blanks, and means, 4tir'ned ltothe movement of the cylinder, for intermittently moving one of said shafts toward and from the other shaft.

4. The combination with a printing press for printing on box blanks, including a form cylinder, of two cutter shafts, adjacent said cylinder, of two cutter shafts adjacent said cylinder, toggle levers for raising and lowering one of said shafts, and means timed to the operation of said cylinder for flexing and'straightening the toggle levers.

7. The combination with a print-ing press for printing on box blanks, of two cutter shafts arranged transversely of the press at its delivery end, toggle levers for raising and lowering one of said shafts,A a cam carrier geared to operate in time with the press and having cams thereon, and means actuated by the cams for flexing and straightening the toggle levers.

8. The combination with a printing press for printing on box blanks, of two cutter shafts arranged transversely of the press at its delivery end, toggle levers for raising and lowering one of said shafts, a cam wheel geared to operate in time with the press, cams adjustably secured to opposite sides of said wheel, an operating lever adapted to be rocked by said cams, and connections between said operating lever and the toggle levers for flexing and straightening the latter.

9. The combination with a printing press for printing on box blanks, of two cutter shafts arranged transversely of the press at its delivery end, toggle levers for raising and lowering one of said shafts, a cam wheel adapted to turn in a horizontal plane and geared to operate in time with the press, cams on the upper and lower sides of said wheel, an operating lever pivoted to rock in a vertical plane and having parts arlil() ranged to be engaged by said cams, and connections between said Loperating lever and the toggle levers for flexing and straightening the latter. y

l0. The combination with a printing press for printing on box blanks and comprising e horizontal bed, a drive shaft and form and impression cylinders geared to said shaft so as to be positively driven thereby, of cutters at the deliveryend of the press, and meolia- 10 the blanke.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my 15x signature. y

" kELLvvoon A. METZ. 

